PEARCY (AP) — When the bombs began falling at Pearl Harbor 71 years ago, William Chase was in the naval hospital, just below Drydock No. 1, almost completely recovered from the German measles.

A U.S. Navy veteran, Chase, 88, was scheduled to report to the carrier USS Lexington, CV-2, when he got sick on the troop transport USS Henderson bringing soldiers from San Diego.

“I arrived at Pearl Harbor Dec. 1 and went right into the hospital with the German measles. Being sick probably saved my life, because if I had reported to the Lexington as scheduled, I may not be here today,” Chase said.

The Lexington wasn’t in Pearl Harbor during the attack but was sunk May 8, 1942, at the Battle of Coral Sea with a loss of 216 men.

On Dec. 7, Chase was mostly recovered from the measles and was regaining his strength for the next few days in the hospital, located between the harbor entrance and the drydock that contained the destroyers USS Cassin and USS Downes, and the battleship USS Pennsylvania.

“We had just finished breakfast, and I was in the galley helping to clean up when we heard planes overhead. At first, we thought it was planes from Hickam Field on morning maneuvers, but we knew different when the bombs fell. I remember looking in the face of one of the nurses, and she yelled out, ‘My God! We’re at war’!” Chase recalled.

The nurses on duty began rounding up the patients and directed them to a concrete ramp where ambulances drove in to try and give them some shelter.

“By the time we got there, I could barely see across the Battleship Row because the Cassin and Downes were damaged so much. The Downes’ fuel tanks were ruptured, and it started a big fire,” Chase said. “I looked above and could see the Japanese high-level bombers. They knew exactly how high our anti aircraft guns could shoot because they were just out of range.”

As Chase, who was 17 and a half at the time, witnessed the carnage, he saw the USS Arizona the moment it exploded from a bomb that penetrated the forward magazine.

“It really shook things up. The shock wave went across the entire harbor and it was loud. At that moment, all of us felt so helpless because we didn’t have anything to shoot back, not even a rifle. We did get a morale boost when we saw a Japanese Zero get shot down. It crashed about 50 yards from us,” Chase said.

At that moment, Chase first experienced the true horrors of war as a sailor, who was severely wounded from a strafing run, was brought into the hospital.

After the second attack wave, all able-bodied men in Chase’s area were taken through Hickam Field to a receiving area, where they were disbursed to various areas to fill in depleted ranks on ships and to help with rescue efforts in the harbor.

“All I had was my sea bag, so they put me in a captain’s boat from one of the battleships — I don’t remember which. We went into the harbor and retrieved bodies, dead and alive. A lot of them were badly burned. I don’t know how they were still alive. I don’t remember how many runs we made into the harbor, but it was horrible,” he recalled.

At one point, the captain’s boat was bumping into the side of the capsized battleship USS Oklahoma’s hull as survivors were picked up. Chase said the water was filled with burning oil that had drifted down from the Arizona, and several sailors who couldn’t fit inside the boat were hanging onto the side, trying to pull themselves away from the fires.

“The Arizona burned for a long time. I still remember the glow from its fires that first night,” Chase said.

From Dec. 7-23, Chase was a man without a ship. He primarily pulled guard duty, watching over a cold storage area to keep food supplies from being looted.

“On the 23rd, an officer came up to me and asked, ‘Sailor, how did you get here?’ I told them I had orders for the Lexington but had been in the hospital. Since there was no carrier in the harbor, I was assigned to the USS Kaula (AG-33), which was converted from a fruit carrier into a military cargo ship,” Chase said.

For the next six months, Chase, working down in the engine room, sailed on the transport, working in the Hawaiian Islands and taking supplies to Midway Island. The ship sailed frequently in convoys, but was also solo on several occasions. Chase was told that the ship was attacked more than once by Japanese submarines, but its flat-bottom and shallow draft saved it as the torpedoes passed harmlessly beneath.

At one point, Chase received a head injury while trying to repair a winch on the Kaula while it was under strain from a pallet of cargo that was being unloaded.

“The guy holding the brake let go, and the huge pallet came dropping down and crashed into me. I went back to work three days later, but from that point, I started having blackout spells, sometimes being in a coma two and three days at a time. They kept getting worse, and I finally spent the last eight months of the war in the Knoll Naval Hospital at Oakland. They found that I had two cracked vertebrae in my neck and had to do surgery. So, it’s ironic that I started and ended World War II in the hospital,” he said with a laugh.

Before going into the hospital, however, Chase continued service to his country. After departing the Kaula, he spent 11 months and 19 days on Midway Island, helping to rebuild and fortify it after the June 1942 attack.

Later, he was transferred back to Pearl Harbor where he was part of a unit that loaded supplies on ships that were part of the Pacific island-hopping campaign. Chase recalled that one day, while loading ships, two LSTs blew up about 150 yards from him.

“The explosion killed 18 Marines, and part of one of those LSTs is still on the bank at the edge of the harbor to this day. They’re afraid to mess with it because there is so much ammunition on it. I saw it when I went back there in 1993,” he said.

After returning home, Chase, who was born in Glenwood, has remained in Garland County. For years, he operated a successful salvage yard, and in his retirement years still enjoys fishing and deer hunting.

“I’ve had a blessed, long life. I’m healthy and I plan to be around a while longer,” he said.